Service Provider Resources

Communication

The first step in the provision of culturally appropriate aged care is to address issues around language and communication. Effective communication is essential to the physical, emotional and psychological well-being of your care recipients.

The language needs of your care recipients must be addressed across all care services, including health and personal care, dementia care and palliative care services. Communication difficulties can severely compromise the quality of care provided to care recipients. Accurate and appropriate communication between staff and care recipients is crucial at all times, especially when care plans are developed and reviewed. Using professional interpreting and translating services at these times - and whenever informed consent is required - will help to ensure the provision of appropriate care, as well as ensuring a risk management approach to service delivery.

Information about services should be made available in the preferred language of care recipients, while procedures should be implemented to enable care recipients and their families to contribute to the continuous improvement system, provide feedback on planning objectives and access complaints mechanisms in their preferred language.

Information provision is not the only aspect of providing culturally appropriate services; the social and emotional communication needs of care recipients must also be addressed in daily life, including leisure activities and spiritual support programs. Encouraging and facilitating the use of care recipients' preferred language enables participation, reduces social isolation and creates a sense of belonging.

We understand the popularity with some aged care service providers of using pictorial communication boards to communicate with care recipients. However, it must be stressed that such a device is just one tool – with limited effectiveness – and should not be used as a sole method of communication.

Rather, more effective communication strategies should be promoted and fostered at an organisational level instead – for example, the use of professional interpreting services, the recruitment of bilingual staff, language lessons for staff and cultural awareness training.

Key Considerations

Interpreting Services

Inform all care recipients of their right to access professional interpreting services at any time, and of the availability of telephone interpreting services.
Use professional interpreting services:
Beware of the ethical implications, privacy issues and potential for grave misunderstanding in using bilingual staff, family members or friends to communicate on behalf of care recipients.

Bilingual Staff

Actively promote the recruitment of bilingual staff.
Consider using the language skills of unaccredited bilingual staff for social communication with care recipients. Ensure this responsibility is clearly addressed by human resources (ie defined in the position description and appropriately remunerated).

Information Provision

Conduct the entry and orientation program in the preferred language of care recipients and their families.
Use professional translators to translate all documents requiring the consent of care recipients, such as care plans, as well as other documents as required.
Provide information about services, including health and personal care procedures, in the preferred language of care recipients.
Ensure care recipients and their representatives have access to internal and external complaint mechanisms and quality improvement systems in their preferred language.
Communicate the organisation’s planning objectives to care recipients and their families in their preferred language, and offer a variety of ways to provide feedback - eg written comment, interviews and group discussion.
Provide menu choices and food services information in the preferred language of care recipients.
Consider the language needs of care recipients in the living environment of residential aged care facilities - eg signage in community languages.

Social Communication

Ensure the linguistic needs of care recipients are addressed in emotional support, spiritual support and leisure activities programs.
Explore the availability of volunteers to provide recreational visits in the preferred language of care recipients.
Support care recipients' access to multicultural media (including radio, TV and newpapers) as desired.

Staff Education & Training

Consider providing language lessons for staff to enable them to communicate in the preferred language of your care recipients.
Provide training for all staff in cultural awareness, appropriate communication and the correct use of telephone and on-site interpreting services.

Additional Resources

Interpreting Services

Telephone interpreting services can be obtained by calling the Translating and Interpreting Service on 131 450. This service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Practitioner’s Directory 2009/2010
National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters
Interpreter Directory
Australian Institute of Interpreters and Translators